Austin Deming has a screenshot of an email saved on his phone. An email that says he’s has made it — or at the very least he’s very close to making it.

That email came from the Boston Red Sox. And they sent it to let the Snow Canyon High shortstop know he has officially been identified as a pro prospect. After receiving it, Deming did what pretty much any kid would do, he snapped a screenshot of it and sent it to a bunch of friends in excitement.

While he knew it didn’t mean that he was for sure going to be drafted by the Red Sox or that he was destined for baseball greatness, it was a surreal moment — a moment where his childhood fantasies slightly met reality. But those types of moments have become the norm for Deming.

They started before he played his first game at Snow Canyon and they are set to continue well after his high school days are over. Maybe with an MLB organization or maybe just with the BYU Cougars, whom Deming has signed with. Regardless, there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.

Early power

Snow Canyon coach Reed Secrist knew very quickly he had something special on his hands with Deming. Secrist runs a fall league where he allows eighth graders to play with the high school team. In all his years running the league, only one eighth grader has hit a home run during those fall games: Austin Deming.

“It may have been a little windblown, but still, he hit it,” Secrist said. “I knew he was a special kid watching him do that and seeing his bat speed at that age.”

And he’s just proven to be more special since then. In four years playing under Secrist, Deming has yet to hit a plateau. Not when he made the varsity team his freshman season, which Deming called the most surreal moment of his baseball career. Not when he went 18-for-30 during the state tournament in his first year of high school baseball. And not when he hit nearly .700 (18-for-23) during Snow Canyon’s run to the state championship game last season.

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Austin Deming throws a pitch in a game against Pine View, March 29.(Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News)

“I have never seen a kid do what he did,” Secrist said. “In his freshman year, he was on fire. Last year, you thought is this kid going to plateau, but it just keeps getting better. He’s always gotten better.”

Baseball's call

It’s not hard to find why Deming has continued to improve. His body has matured, catching up with his natural abilities. He’s spent hours in the weight room, getting stronger and working on his agility. And he put his athletic focus completely on baseball.

Deming specializing in one sport was never encouraged by coaches, but it was something he chose to do. He played football and basketball growing up, but those games didn’t call to him like baseball did.

“I knew pretty early in my life that this is what I was going to want to keep doing,” Deming said.

Deming’s swing isn’t picture perfect. When he discovered he had some power, he started doing a small twist at the top, almost as if he were loading up the bat. It’s a little odd, but the results speak for themselves. Deming is hitting .500 on the season with 24 RBIs and seven homers.

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Austin Deming rounds third during the 2017 3A state quarterfinals.(Photo: Ryan Miller/ The Spectrum& Daily News)

“He’s a little unorthodox in his swing,” Secrist said. “There’s a few mechanic things that he does that only he can do — that I probably wouldn’t even teach. My dad told me a long time ago, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

And it was Deming’s own father that gave him some swing advice that he has chosen to stick with.

“When I was younger, I always thought my swing had to be a certain way, but my dad just told me to have my own swing,” Deming said.

Next level

Deming is already on his way to the next level. He signed with BYU in November and will go there as a two-way player (aside from his hitting prowess, Deming also boast a 0.35 ERA on the season).

It was on a visit to BYU that Deming began to realize how good he really was.

He attributes his freshman state tournament run to the fact that he had just saw a lot of fastballs. And when he got a few generic emails from colleges early on, he never thought anyone’s interest was too serious. But when the Cougars asked him to visit, his mindset changed.

“When they asked to come on an unofficial visit, I was like, ‘OK, this is kinda crazy,” Deming said. “That’s when I realized something might happen.”

Something more might happen, too.

Deming doesn’t think many MLB teams are interested in him for this year’s MLB draft, but he’s also undersold himself before.

And then there’s that screenshot on his phone. The one that says he is for real.